Author spoofs Baauer: 'Harlem Shake' spin offs were an 'accident'

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The so-called “Harlem Shake” has become a phenomenon thanks to viral videos that spread across the web faster than the moves of the dance itself.

But many, including residents of Harlem, take issue with the videos, which they claim don’t capture the authentic moves that originated in the streets of New York City over two decades ago.

MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry recently addressed the “mislabeled dance” controversy, explaining that the videos of people jumping sporadically and fleeing their arms is not an accurate depiction of the Harlem Shake.

“Feel free to don cartoon masks and hurl, toss and jerk yourself about to any old beat you want, even if you’re the only one who can hear it, just don’t call it the Harlem Shake,” Harris-Perry said.

In a letter addressed “Dear Harlem,” Complex published a snarky “apology” satire in Baauer’s voice:

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I swear. I was just trying to make a goofy dance song…I feel really bad about everything’s that’s come of it since—the kids from Australia making that video, then all those Internet nerds, then seemingly everyone else on the planet, following along, getting in the spirit, making their own version like a bunch of lemmings jumping into a fjord in Norway… Anyway, like I said, sorry. ”

What do you think? Should the real Baauer apologize for appropriating the “Harlem Shake” or is this much ado about nothing?

Follow Lilly Workneh @Lilly_Works